The present invention relates to a contact line for the transmission of data and/or energy for conveyors, robots, or the like, with a pickup that incorporates a contact head, which is connected to the conveyor, and a process for the production of the contact line.
Such contact lines are used, in particular, in conveyor technology, as a rule for transmitting energy, but also data, for rail-type conveyors. These contact lines consist of parallel conductors that are swept by contact wipers. Both the wiper contacts and the lines are usually produced from copper or steel.
Disadvantageous in such contact lines is the relatively high cost of the materials that are involved, the high specific weight, and the resulting high installation costs. In addition, under certain conditions, contact lines of this kind are vulnerable to corrosion, and contact lines made from valuable and particularly costly stainless steel have to be used in such cases. A further particular disadvantages of these metal contact lines is the fact that as a result of production factors, a contact line has to be produced from a plurality of individual parts, the contact points between which frequency leading to breakdowns during operation.
It is known that the transmission of data to a receiver can be effected by means of infrared (IR) transmitters. Such IR transmitters cannot be used to transmit energy, but only for transmitting data. In addition, such IR transmitters are very costly, are prone to breakdown, and are particularly cost-intensive when used as additional or supplementary systems.